


Unlikely Visit

by obviouslyelementary



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode 11, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, because there is no way this is ever happening, gotham season 5, season 5, soft, this is the fanfic no one asked for, unlikely friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 11:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obviouslyelementary/pseuds/obviouslyelementary
Summary: Oswald sat in a room of the hospital, alone, looking at the empty beds around him, sipping from a bottle of water every now and then, having way too much time to think and coming to the realization that, even after all of that, he wanted to be dead instead of where he was.He could bet the others were doing more important things than caring for him. Like aiding more hurt people, gathering supplies, fighting off what was left of gangs and army men. But at this point, even a nurse would be good company for him. He felt desolated.He felt useless.





	Unlikely Visit

It pained him deeply, to admit, that he would probably never had what he always wished he could.

Bane was defeated (as far as they knew, because honestly, it was a stretch to ever believe someone would die or disappear and stay like that in a place like Gotham), Gotham was a wreck, everyone was either dead, hurt, or trying to recover from their newly won PTSD. So it felt ridiculous for him to be wondering about something so futile as love at a time when everyone's biggest worries was food, water, medication, and so on and so forth.

Gotham hadn't been connected to the mainland yet.

They didn’t have any supplies other than the ones they had gathered during that year of pain and suffering.

Yet, they gave preference to him (why, he did not know, but it was a mutual agreement, to save him before anyone else), and now that he was healthy, stabilized, needing only water and food, with a patch in his shot eye and a few punctures of medication, he could only think about how lonely he felt.

Oswald sat in a room of the hospital, alone, looking at the empty beds around him, sipping from a bottle of water every now and then, having way too much time to think and coming to the realization that, even after all of that, he wanted to be dead instead of where he was.

He could bet the others were doing more important things than caring for him. Like aiding more hurt people, gathering supplies, fighting off what was left of gangs and army men. But at this point, even a nurse would be good company for him. He felt desolated.

He felt useless.

And he hated feeling useless.

But he didn't only feel useless, he felt way worst things too.

He felt anger, because none other than Leslie Thompkins had saved his miserable life. He felt jealousy, because Edward was probably with her right now, being her right-hand man while saving other people. He felt ridiculous, because Gordon had been the one to carry him away once again to safety, as if he didn't owe that man enough already. He felt horrible through and through, and now he wasn't even sure if he helped for Bane's elimination at all.

Maybe if he was dead, he would have helped more. Gave them a reason to fight harder, or something. But now they just fought harder because they had a already crippled man down, incapacitated.

Why in heavens hadn’t Jim killed him that day on the pier?

Oswald closed his eyes and let out a sigh, trying to calm his intrusive, aggressive thoughts. He wanted to die, he wanted to kill, but he wouldn’t do either, because he was too weak to murder and too egoistical to kill himself. It was truly a pain in the ass, to be Oswald Cobblepot. But he would manage, somehow.

He just wished he would have someone make him a visit. Anyone.

Like a whisper to the sky, someone up there heard his prayers. As soon as he thought it, he heard the door opening, and his eyes snapped open. Was it Edward? Jim? Maybe Lee? Barbara? Bullock? Anyone? He turned his face to the door, having to go all the way since the door was directly next to his covered-up eye.

For a second, he thought he was imagining things, but no. It was the kid.

The Wayne boy.

Strange.

He politely closed the door behind himself and made his slow way towards Oswald's bed, all while Oswald laid back down and sighed internally. What did the child want? They had never talked outside formal meetings, and all he knew from what he had heard was that the kid was a pain in the ass when he wanted to be. And if he was friends with Kyle, which he was, it meant he was also a sneaky boy, and if he was here, he wanted something.

Oswald just had no idea what he could offer.

"I came here to check on you" the Wayne kid said, after coming close to the bed. He was standing by Oswald's feet, hands behind his back, face impenetrable. Oswald just gave him a glance, saying nothing. The kid continued. "I overheard you were here alone, due to your wound and the hatred people developed for you. Gordon thought it would be safer to keep you apart from everyone else, but I figured it could be lonely, so I stopped by to see if you wanted anything."

The kid reminded him of Martin, a little bit. It did not do good for his heart, to remember the orphan boy.

"I want my dog, but I don't know where he is" Oswald said, shrugging lightly. It was superficial and the absolute not truth, but the kid didn’t need to know that. He just tilted his head, and then nodded.

"I can go get him for you, if you want. Do you know where he was last time you saw him?" he asked, oh so polite, and Oswald had a sudden need to gut him.

And then it vanished.

"I'm not being serious, you don't need to go get my dog for me" he said, unsure if he would understand the message if he wasn’t straight forward. "I don't need anything, Bruce Wayne. You can go back to taking care of other patients."

He expected the kid to nod and leave, but instead, Bruce walked to the bed next to Oswald's, the one next to his good eye, and sat down.

"Sometimes it's good to be alone" he said, crossing his legs over the bed, looking at Oswald. He had a somber shadow in his eyes, something that Oswald did not like to see in any kid. "Sometimes it is the worst punishment you could ever get. This is the most silent room in this building. It's good to have some peace and quiet."

"Don't you have anyone else you would rather be seeing, Bruce Wayne?" Oswald asked, because he was tired. And because he didn't want to be around Wayne kid right now. He gave him strange feelings. "Your butler, Selina... maybe even Gordon?"

"They are all busy" he said, and looked at Oswald. "I came here to make you some company, and to rest a little as well. This is the least likely place for anyone to look for me. And you look like someone that needs to talk."

"Well as much as I do, I don't feel comfortable sharing my life stories with a kid like you" Oswald said, a dry chuckle leaving his mouth. He kept thinking the kid would get offended, but he just nodded.

"We don't need to talk about that. You have a dog, don't you? Tell me about him" he said, and Oswald was left speechless. The Wayne kid was not kidding. He was staying, he was talking to Oswald, he was keeping him company, unless Oswald explicitly told him to leave.

He had no idea why Bruce Wayne wanted to make him company, but he did know how to read someone, specially kids. He saw the tiredness in Wayne's expression, the tension in his muscles, the way his back was perfectly straight as he sat, the darkness in his eyes... no kid should look like that, Oswald was certain.

So maybe, they could exchange favors.

"Very well" Oswald nodded, slowly pushing himself up and sitting with his back leaning against the headboard. "My dog is a bulldog. I found him in the streets, abandoned, after the destruction of the bridges here in Gotham. So I took him in and named him Edward."

"After who?" Bruce asked, seeming honestly curious. Oswald smirked at him.

"Edward Nygma."

"The Riddler?" the kid frowned. "Why would you name your dog after Nygma?"

"Well little Wayne, because the heart is a tricky thing" Oswald said, chuckling to himself. It felt bitter on his tongue, to talk about it, but it wasn't so bad. "Wouldn’t you adopt a cat and name it Selina, if you could?"

It took Bruce a while, but eventually he opened his mouth in a surprised manner and then nodded.

"Yes I would" he said, and gave Oswald a genuine small smile. He had never seen the kid smile like that. "Well, that is fun, I suppose. But I take it he didn’t like it very much. Nygma, I mean."

"Actually I don't believe he cared at all" Oswald said, shrugging, and Bruce's smile disappeared again. "In any case, I left my dog after Nygma's care so he could leave Gotham with the submarine we made. But Nygma decided to stay, so I don't know where Edward is now. Hopefully safe. And hopefully alive."

"Animals are intelligent, I bet he is alive and well" Bruce nodded, and slowly lifted one of his legs, hugging it to his chest and resting his head against it. "You were the mayor for a while. How was that for you?"

Oswald was glad the kid didn't push into the Nygma subject, and began talking about something else entirely. Sure, being mayor had a lot to do with Edward, but not directly.

"Oh it was fun, believe me" Oswald began, smiling to himself, telling Bruce all the weird things that happened during his months as mayor. Their talk shifted to the Pax Pinguina after that, and then back when Oswald first got the part of King of Gotham. And Oswald learned a little bit about the kid, about his parents, about how crooked the Wayne Enterprises was, and he even got to hear an apology for what happened after Strange messed him up. In the end, their talk took hours off their back, and somehow, they bonded a little bit in between those shallow conversations.

They didn't go into details, they didn't share personal life choices, but they talked like an adult talks to a teenager, how a teacher talks to their student, like different aged friends, even going as far as exchanging experiences with the most basic of things.

The sun was going low when Bruce decided he had to leave, and Oswald didn't stop him, just asking that he requested his dinner down for the nurses. And Bruce nodded as he walked out, the dinner coming in less than fifteen minutes after that.

Eventually, Lee came to check on him. Gordon did too, for less than five minutes. Edward came late at night, talking about how hard he was working and complaining about how they should have left Gotham in their submarine, falling asleep on the same bed the Wayne kid had sat down for the whole afternoon.

Oswald didn't really understand, the bond that formed between him and Bruce Wayne that day. They had extremely different ways of seeing life, completely opposite life experiences, morals that shifted all around the spectrum, and yet, they found mutual respect and interest for each other's history.

They surely wouldn't become friends, or even acquaintances, and Oswald could clearly see the kid would go to the same path Gordon did, saving the innocent and putting an end to people like Oswald.

But at least, they could be enemies with mutual respect, in the future.

Maybe Oswald would have someone to talk to, whenever he felt too lonely, and Bruce would have someone to drink with, when he felt too overworked.

Their future... would be an interesting one.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fanfic no one asked for that I have been wanting to write for like ten billion years
> 
> I hope you guys that read it enjoyed it, because I sure did enjoy writing it!


End file.
